Chapter 1 Video Begins

The video style of this "Young Master Tian" was clearly completely different from that of Qiao Laoshi.

No matter which series of videos Qiao Laoshi made, the opening was always the same familiar greeting, a slightly cheeky tone, and a greeting to the audience.

He would briefly introduce the cause and effect before naturally getting to the point.

But this Young Master Tian's style was completely the opposite. There was absolutely no prior preparation or foreshadowing. He went straight to the point, so much so that Yan Qi, who was used to skipping the first ten seconds, almost missed the key information.

At the beginning of the video, there was first a black screen, accompanied by a standard explanatory subtitle.

"After 16 days, the Dawn Games platform's costly sociological experiment has finally come to an end."

"Whether they got the results they expected, we don't know. Maybe the results were very disappointing to them, or maybe the results were exactly what they expected."

"But for them, the ultimate outcome of all this may not be important."

"What's important is that this experiment made one thing clear to us: It is still a luxury to expect a portion of humanity to remain rational for a sufficiently long period of time."

...

This opening directly stunned Yan Qi.

Just like the title "A Soul-Searching Question for Players," the opening was eye-catching enough, and could even be described as alarmist.

How did it become a sociological experiment?

How is it a luxury to keep humans rational?

Yan Qi had seen the last sentence in a classic domestic science fiction novel, but the specific wording and the applied scenario were different.

The original sentence should have been: "It is indeed a luxury to expect mankind to remain rational forever."

The original sentence was "forever," while the sentence in the video was "a portion of humanity, for a sufficiently long time," which obviously lowered the requirements and made many concessions.

In the video, the statement after lowering the requirements was obviously less sarcastic and more helpless.

Meaning: Don't even mention keeping all humans rational forever, it's a luxury to keep a portion of them rational for a sufficiently long time!

Especially when this passage was said in Aeeis's unique voice, it had a different kind of feeling.

It was as if a truly intelligent artificial intelligence was standing right in front of you, looking at all of humanity without any expression, expressing its helplessness.

Of course, whether artificial intelligence actually has the emotion of "helplessness" is hard to say.

But if it doesn't have this emotion of "helplessness," perhaps it would seem even more helpless.

It had to be said that this opening attracted Yan Qi.

He was a little puzzled. When did the Dawn Games platform ever have any sociological experiments? Hadn't it been making one bad move after another, turning a winning hand into a complete mess?

Could this be justified? Could this be whitewashed?

With confusion, Yan Qi continued watching.

...

"If you want to create a game platform to make money, with sufficient funds, there is a mature, stable, and complete template that can be used."

"Directly purchasing traffic from other channels, directly diverting traffic from apps with a large user base, negotiating with well-known game developers for game exclusivity... these are all highly cost-effective and risk-free starting schemes."

"And massively placing advertisements online and offline is a very low cost-effective, low conversion rate, and ineffective method."

"This is common sense in the industry, and even the game operations of some small game companies know this method."

"Dawn Games is a well-funded game platform. Judging from the quality of the platform's program, the core members should all be industry elites. There is no reason for such a platform not to understand these things."

...

The video briefly introduced these highly cost-effective starting schemes, including the specific process and individual success stories.

Yan Qi nodded in agreement as he watched.

That's exactly how it is!

In fact, if a game channel wants to get started, as long as it has money, it is not difficult.

Many channel providers have clearly marked prices for traffic. A recommended spot in a specific area can continuously import users into a certain app or game. Although this traffic looks expensive, it is much more cost-effective than advertising.

Similarly, you can spend more money to cooperate with some app stores and hang on the app's recommendation list for a period of time, and the effect is far better than advertising.

As for the method of negotiating exclusivity with well-known game developers, which most designers would think of, there is no need to say more.

In short, slightly more savvy industry insiders can at least think of four or five more cost-effective ways to attract traffic, which, with enough money, can allow the Dawn Games platform to start safely, smoothly, and without too many worries.

However, the Dawn Games platform chose the worst and least cost-effective solution: advertising!

Of course, advertising is not impossible, but it is basically the big game platforms that will take this step.

When some game platforms have developed into very large channels, make a lot of profit, and the previous methods have not had a very obvious effect, they will advertise online, and even do TV advertising, seeking further breakthroughs and attracting more users.

When have you ever seen those small game platforms advertising online?

Therefore, the Dawn Games platform's behavior is indeed very abnormal.

Previously, Yan Qi was anxious and angry when he saw the Dawn Games platform making one bad move after another.

But now, on second thought, it is obviously unreasonable to simply attribute this to the person in charge of the platform being an amateur and too stupid.

Because no matter how stupid you are, there must be a limit.

This choice is not difficult. With a simple explanation, ordinary netizens can distinguish which is more cost-effective and which is less cost-effective.

You can't say that the boss of the Dawn Games platform just happens to be a particularly outrageous amateur, dictatorial, unable to listen to other people's opinions, and doesn't even have the most basic logical thinking ability and comprehension ability, right?

This possibility is too low.

If there is a multiple-choice question with a total of four options, and the other three options can be identified as the correct answer at a glance, but the most outrageous wrong answer is chosen.

Can it be inferred that there is a high probability that it was deliberately chosen incorrectly?

What's more, Yan Qi recalled and realized that all the employees of the Dawn Games platform seemed to be obedient to this boss behind the scenes.

If an amateur leads an expert, then these employees will have some complaints more or less, and they will not execute it silently without saying a word like they are now.

So, there is probably a real problem!

Yan Qi hurriedly continued to watch.

...

"Obviously, there is only one explanation for this situation: The Dawn Games platform is doing it on purpose."

"The platform's display of the number of game bugs, as well as the various regulations of 'removing games with a non-recommendation rate exceeding 55% during the trial period', are actually a special experiment."

"The content to be verified is whether players can remain rational, achieve effective self-management, and make good use of these rights after the game platform focuses on providing high-quality content and delegates the rights of screening, judging, and even removing games to the players."

"Unfortunately, judging from the current results, the answer is no."

"Not only did a small number of players fail to remain rational, but they also successfully incited the majority of the platform's players to join this irrational camp, thereby allowing this right to be completely abused and completely deviating from the platform's original intention."

"Clearly, they have gained more rights compared to other platforms, but these rights have been damaged because players value short-term interests too much, which ultimately makes the environment of the platform that treats players well worse than other platforms."

"Is this the tragedy of the game platform, or the tragedy of the players?"

...

Yan Qi's eyes widened. This content was a little too shocking, so much so that he fell into a state of confusion.

He originally wanted to drag the progress bar back and listen to this passage again, but luckily, he found that there was a more detailed explanation later.

First of all, it was the Dawn Games platform's special handling of bugs.

Other platforms, regardless of whether the game has bugs or how many bugs it has, can be launched as long as it can run normally. Bugs can be fixed slowly later.

Many players play unfinished games with bugs, and some of these bugs can seriously affect the game experience.

Logically speaking, this situation should not exist at all, because players are paying for the finished product of the game, not a semi-finished product.

If you go to a restaurant to eat, pay the full amount, but what is served is a dish that is only half-cooked, then even if the chef repeatedly guarantees that some ingredients will be added and stir-fried into a fully cooked dish in five minutes, the diners will definitely lose their temper on the spot.

If a game is full of many bugs that affect the game experience, then it should not be launched, but should continue to be developed, patched, and launched after reaching a very high level of completion.

But for other platforms and game developers, what do a few bugs matter? The earlier it is launched, the earlier it makes money.

So, the interests of the players are sacrificed.

Unlike other platforms, the Dawn Games platform strictly controls the platform games, dissuades many semi-finished games, abandons the huge benefits brought by these games, and ensures the players' game experience.

Moreover, in order to enhance the players' sense of participation, everyone can see the bug modification status of each game in real time.

This is like those restaurants with transparent kitchens. Although it does not help improve the taste of the dishes, it allows diners to see the situation in the kitchen, which itself shows a great trust.

But did the players appreciate it?

Not at all.

Not only did they not appreciate it, but there were also various conspiracy theories. Some said that the platform was hyping, and some said that the data was fake.

Clearly, it was a very necessary measure and a very important right, but most people didn't care at all, and even suspected the platform's motives.